Improvement in hair-pins



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UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

JOSEPH CHARLES HOVVELLS, OF WASHINGTON, DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA.

IMPROVEMENT IN HAIR-PINS.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent N0. 43,9 I4, dated August-23, 1864.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, J osEPH CHARLES HOWELLS, of the city of Vashington, in the District of Columbia and the United States ot America, have invented a new and Improved Hair-Pin; and I do hereby declare that the following is a full and exact description thereof',

reference being had to accompanying drawings, and to the letters ot' reference marked thereon.

Similarletters ofreference indicate like parts in all the drawings.

The nature of my invention consists in pro viding one or each of the legs of my improved hair-pin with a spiral twist, thereby enabling the pin more ettectually to retain its position in the hair ot' the wearer.

I con struct my improved hair-pin out of any suitable material, giving to one or more of the legs ot' the pin a spiral twist, the spiral, where each leg of the pin is twisted, being, so to speak, around a common central line, as seen at a a, Fig. 1. Where only one leg of the pin is twisted the long straight leg should be iuclosed within and project beyond the spiral leg, as seen, b, Fig. 2. The short straight leg ot' my improved pin is not required to project within the spiral leg, as can be seen at c, Fig. 3.

The spiral twist can be imparted to the pin by hand labor or by any suitable machinery. 'Ihe short-legged spiral pin enters the hair with but slight pressure, revolving while it enters, the short leg serving as a head or hook to prevent its entering too far. leg acts as a pivot around which the spiral leg that incloses it seems to revolve when the pin is pressed gently into the hair. When each leg ofthe pin is spiral, it enters the hair more quickly and freely under pressure, acting' like a double-threaded screw. In either case the single or double spiraled hair-pin acts like a screw, firmly securing the hair of the wearer,

and by virtue of its spiral character it cannot be so readily removed as the ordinary hairpins from the hair, unless by giving a movement to the spiral pin the reverseot the one given to it upon its entering the hair of the wearer.

What I claim, and desire to secureby Letters Patent, is-

Giving a spiral form to a hair-pin, substantially as shown and described.

JOSEPH CHARLES HOWELLS.

Witnesses:

R. D. O. SMITH, H. C. DODGE.

The long straight 

